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UN Bans Interns from its Bar, Pictures on Facebook and Long Lines for Beer Led Two Delegations to Complain

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Muse

UNITED NATIONS, April 5 -- The UN negotiates with dictators in North Korea and Uzbekistan and with indicted war criminals in Uganda. But faced with noise, mess and long lines for beer caused by its own interns' presence once a week in the UN Delegates' Lounge, rather than talk and seek a solution, the UN has simply banned all interns from the bar.

  The new policy was in place on April 4, and the Lounge was at best half as crowded as usual. Bar sales declined by slightly less, thirty-five percent, with some using this as evidence that interns had brought in their own liquor. Several Ambassadors complained to Inner City Press, with one delegate prominent in climate change debates saying that while he rarely spoke with the interns, he now missed their presence, their "energy." This is the UN, he said. Couldn't they have been negotiated with and some compromise reached?

            By far the majority of those Inner City Press spoke with in the bar on Friday night after interviewing Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic were opposed to the new absolutist policy of barring the interns. In further inquiry with Ban Ki-moon administration sources, two countries' delegations to the UN were identified as having lodged complaints that operated as "the straw that broke the camel's back," as one source put it, winking and saying this phrase was a clue to which regional group both complainants are from.

            Others argue that the identity of this complainers is less important than the new technology which made this year's intern antics more of a worry to the UN than before. Some interns were posting photographs from the Delegates' Lounge on Facebook and other social media sites. This was viewed as going too far, and rather than negotiate, the decision was made to simply prohibit entry by interns.

Ban speaks to interns 40 meters from the bar from which they are now banned

   Some with longer memories say that the current move to ban the interns was set in motion by a breathy New York Post article in September 2007, describing the Delegates' Lounge as a singles bar with disco music. The Post's writer for that story has not been seen since in the building. Also impacted are journalists not deemed resident correspondents, and contractors, such as those running UN TV, many of who have worked in the UN for decades while the private company holding the contract has changed. (An affiliate of the current contract holder is said by sound-men or sound-persons to be near to bankruptcy.)

            Recently the Delegates' Lounge has innovated in its offers, from expanding the wine list to bringing in beer on tap, including an organic brew. Since the bar is run by the same contractor as the cafeteria, Aramark -- the work force is involved in a contract dispute, quietly marked by the deployment of "UNITE HERE" union lapel pins -- often sandwiches and salads not sold during the day are given out free at night in the bar. On April 4, there was more food than people, as chef salads sat uneaten, alongside a tray-load of cold mozzarella sticks.

   Aramark's flash web site to drum up outside business for its Delegates' Dining Room catering service promises "this world renowned setting where diplomats, ambassadors and world leaders dine, celebrate and arbitrate." But in this case, there was no arbitration.

            Several highly-placed Ban Administration officials frequent the Delegates' Lounge on Fridays, and one wonders what this new policy, if unaltered, says about their diplomatic skills and commitment to egalitarianism. The UN is already almost laughably hierarchical, with its system of coded identification cards worn around the neck, and employment status grouped into G for General versus P for Professional, with very little mobility between the two.

    A defender of the new policy told Inner City Press that there are simply "too many interns," even if they could be convinced to forego Facebook. But why not then deem one Friday for interns with last names A to L, the next for M to Z? While the situations are not comparable, would the UN stop providing services in the field because too many people lined up for them? Or would they try to come up with a workable system?

Press analysis: a lack of creative problem solving on something so simple right in UN headquarters may not be unrelated to recent diplomatic gaffes in such places as Kosovo, click here for that, and watch this site.

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These reports are usually also available through Google News and on Lexis-Nexis.

Click here for a Reuters AlertNet piece by this correspondent about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click here for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali National Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an undefined trust fund.  Video Analysis here

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